Examples Of Hope In The Great Gatsby

The American Dream is the philosophy of hope, and the belief states that anyone in America has the opportunity to reach riches and success. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a highly notable novel focusing on one man’s process of achieving the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is a novel about love, fortune, desire, and failure. Out of all of these themes, failure is the most prevalent throughout the novel. While writing The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald incorporates his personal opinion on the American Dream while building the character of Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald believes the American Dream is unreasonable for anyone with or without riches. Gatsby works exceedingly harder than the average man to keep the illusion of the American Dream alive

in his fantasies. However, near the end of the novel, Gatsby begins to self- destruct due to the shock of his inability to reach the American Dream. Gatsby would be the perfect candidate for the American Dream; however, because of obsession and deception in matters of love and money, Gatsby’s once hoped for American Dream is proven impossible throughout the novel The Great Gatsby.
Gatsby has many aspects that make him the perfect candidate for the American Dream, such as his lack of money growing up and will to thrive in America, which makes him ambitious from a young age. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald writes: “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people—his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all….” (98-99). A mysterious secret about Gatsby finally reveals information about his childhood. Gatsby is the offspring of two poverty-stricken parents from North Dakota. Even though Gatsby’s parents love him and try to raise him with pride for himself, Gatsby cannot embrace the fact that he lives in poverty (Wulick 1). As an adolescent, Gatsby promises himself that he will do everything to acquire riches as he ages. One way he accomplishes his goal of the American Dream is by changing his name. Fitzgerald reveals Gatsby’s true identity when he writes: “Just why these inventions were a source of satisfaction to James Gatz of North Dakota, isn’t easy to say. James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career…” (98-99).
I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then.
Although he is well known in the West Egg as Gatsby, he was not always called that (Stocks 1). This reveals to the reader that Gatsby was originally named James Gatz, and Gatsby wants to escape poverty so badly that he changes his complete identity to receive a second chance at achieving the American Dream (Tunc 75). Gatsby’s eagerness to succeed and inability to accept his poor upbringing makes Gatsby the perfect candidate to potentially “achieve” the American Dream.
Gatsby is under the mistaken impression that the American Dream is possible, but the hope Gatsby is experiencing is unrealistic and incorrect.

One aspect that fills Gatsby with hope is the green light at the end of the dock (Rimer). Fitzgerald gives Gatsby a light that puts a glimmer of hope into his life : “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....” (Fitzgerald 180). Gatsby believes that one day he will be able to touch the green light, which will lead him to fulfill the American Dream. Gatsby is rising in society and fulfilling his American Dream by moving to the West Egg: “[He] moves to West Egg, a community of the nouveau riche, instead of the more elegant East Egg” (Roberts 3). Gatsby uses his money to try to live an extravagant life, but the West Egg is all an illusion. The West Egg is where all of the flashy wannabes live; however, the classy, elegant people live in East Egg (Roberts 3). Gatsby’s parties also give him confidence in achieving the American Dream. Gatsby believes that if he throws frequent, lavish parties people will accept him into society and later boost his social status (Tunc 74). The American Dream lives only in Gatsby’s mind and is fueled by money and social

status.
At the end of The Great Gatsby, everything Gatsby imagines possessing or loving is ripped away from him. The American Dream is not possible due to all of the flaws Gatsby develops in the novel. One flaw that causes Gatsby to lose the American Dream is his love for Daisy Buchanan. Tanfer Tunc states in his analysis of the novel:
Gatsby “wanted to recover some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. He’d been confused and disordered since then, but if he could turn to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he thought that thing was.” (Fitzgerald 73) After devoting so many years to this elusive dream, Gatsby cannot go back in time and relive these lost years. His dream comes to a bitter end. (76-77)
This excerpt enforces the fact that Gatsby loses out on so many opportunities due to his obsession and love for Daisy.

Instead of chasing after Daisy, Gatsby should worry about himself and his desire to have everything (Tunc 76). Gatsby also influences Daisy to become unfaithful in her marriage. Daisy leads Gatsby to believe that she loves him, but in the end Daisy does not love Gatsby like she loves her husband. When Gatsby finds this out, he self-destructs due to the fact that he cannot marry Daisy. (Tunc 77)

Another one of Gatsby’s flaws that shows how he falls short of the American Dream is the means by which he becomes wealthy. Despite what Gatsby tells everyone, he is an immensely crooked man. Instead of working vigorously for money, Gatsby participates in many illegal activities. He gains his wealth by dealing out illegal alcohol, bribing police officers, and other forms of organized crime (Stocks 1). Fitzgerald writes a conversation between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan as Tom reveals Gatsby’s secrets to the group:

“I found out what your 'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong

(159).
Tom Buchanan gets so frustrated with Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship that Buchanan decides to make Gatsby's identity and profession no longer private (Bunch 29). Gatsby's dirty money gets him the life he wanted; however, as he ages, his money becomes one of his greatest downfalls.
The final flaw that deprives Gatsby of his American Dream is Gatsby’s love of money. his love of money is demonstrated throughout the novel as Gatsby tries to buy his happiness. He wears pink suits, shirts with a little too much pizzazz, and drives many expensive cars (Tunc 69). Gatsby does not understand that he cannot reach the American Dream by buying lavish things. In order to reach the American Dream, Gatsby has to be truly jubilant within his heart (Stocks 1). The American Dream is finally unreachable for Gatsby because he is too materialistic.
Failure is an important theme in The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald believed that the American Dream is not possible for many people. In the beginning of Gatsby’s life, he is very impecunious, but he has ample ambition. This makes Gatsby the perfect candidate for the American Dream. Once Gatsby finally flees North Dakota, he begins to have faith that he can fulfill his American Dream. The reason Gatsby is able to stay so hopeful is because he focuses on the green light, successful parties, and where he resides. In the end, Fitzgerald’s views shine through and present Gatsby’s dreams as unfulfillable. Gatsby’s flaws of obsession, cheating, and greediness keeping his American Dream out of his reach. Gatsby may have believed in his ability to achieve the American Dream, but his actions throughout the novel prove otherwise..